In a typical corporate environment, personal computers are connected to local area networks (LAN) or wide area networks (WAN) to access applications and files. In these networks, electronic data is stored on servers or on stand-alone devices that are accessible via the network. Examples of network storage devices include tape drives, optical libraries, redundant arrays of inexpensive disks (RAID), CD-ROM jukeboxes, and other devices.
In addition to maintaining data on LAN or WAN application servers, these environments may include data storage systems that create an initial, or primary copy of the data, transfer data, or copies of data, to long-term storage devices (e.g. to create a secondary copy of the data, such as a backup copy, an archive copy, and so on).
Factors considered when implementing such data storage systems include the ability to create secondary copies of data that are recoverable and secure. For example, a corporation may want to access secondary copies of data when resources fail, in order to perform restore operations. However, corporations also want to protect the copies of data, often stored in off-site locations, from inappropriate or unauthorized access. Accordingly, many data protection methodologies exist (such as encryption) that assist in creating accessible yet secure secondary copies of data for corporations and other entities. However, current data storage systems are often ineffective when attempting to employ such data protection methods.
These and other problems exist with respect to encrypting secondary copies of data during data storage operations.